Once upon a time
by anne-benedicte
Summary: UNIT doesn't fight only aliens... Kate is faced with an unusual situation
1. Chapter 1

**Once upon a time**

« Greyhound 3 to Greyhound 1 reporting – all quiet on the Western front, Ma'am"

"Received – Greyhound 1, out"

Kate put back her radio and sighed. Osgood looked at her, surprised. For once, it had been a slow couple of days at the Tower, and she was deep into an astrophysics book she'd been wanting to read for some time. Kate had been distractedly toying with her pocket chessboard while watching the various screens in the room.

"What's wrong, Ma'am? Bad news from the Colonel?"

"No – that's why I'm worried…"

Osgood frowned: "People tend to say that no news is good news…"

"My father used to say that it was the calm before the storm…I don't like it when nothing's happening – it means that someone somewhere is up to no good."

Osgood smirked: "And I'm supposed to be the pessimist." Kate gave her one of her famous dark looks and she immediately plunged her nose back in her book.

When the red phone rang a little later, Osgood almost jumped out of her skin as Kate answered:

"General?

\- Kate – can you tell me why you're not already on it?

\- I'm sorry, General, I don't quite follow – on what?

\- The auras! Do I really need to spell it out for you?

\- No need, General – I can manage that A-U-R-A-S, I believe – but you might want to explain what you're talking about.

\- We don't have time for games, Kate – the reports are very clear – these people are a threat.

\- People?

\- These women, really – we've had several reports here at headquarters of women claiming they could see auras around people – colours, you know, and noises, and …

\- I thought we dealt with aliens, General – not with mystics.

\- These women also claim they're able to feel what other people are feeling, and to read their thoughts.

\- I repeat, General, I thought we were concerned with more important things than fortune tellers and circus acts.

\- For God's sake, Kate – can you stop being flippant and listen? Four of these women have already killed people, claiming they had a brown aura, which meant they were future criminals. And we know that hundreds of "aura women", maybe thousands, have appeared all over Europe. Now can you see the problem?

\- Yes Sir – I get it – if we don't investigate, we may have hundreds, if not thousands of killers on our hands.

\- I'm counting on you to do something about it, Kate, and presto! You should already be on it, as I said before

\- Yes Sir. "

On that, he hung up, and Kate swore under her breath – if there was one thing she hated, it was to be found at fault. She turned towards the rest of her team, repeated what the General had said and snapped: "Well? Ideas, anyone?"

Osgood answered tentatively: "It sounds like synaesthesia, Ma'am."

"I'm well aware of that, Osgood, thank you – but as far as I know, synaesthesia doesn't target only women, and doesn't turn them into killers."

"Of course, Ma'am – I remember, I had an uncle who…"

Josh Carter was listening intently, but he couldn't see what the two women were talking about. He decided to risk Kate's wrath and to ask: "Sorry, but …synaesthesia?"

Osgood took pity on him and explained: "Synaesthesia is a neurological condition in which a person experiences "crossed" responses to stimuli. It occurs when stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway. About 5 percent of the population has synaesthesia, and over 60 types have been reported. The most common form of synaesthesia is grapheme-colour synaesthesia, in which people perceive individual letters of the alphabet and numbers to be shaded with a colour. Other synesthetes commingle sounds with scents, sounds with shapes, or shapes with flavours."

"Err ?"

Kate looked at Josh exasperatedly: "It means that if you're a synesthete, you can, for instance see the letter A as yellow and smelling of cherries. Or the number 6 as green and smelling of peas. Or, sometimes, seeing someone with a colour."

"Shouldn't that be "yellow and smelling of banana, Ma'am"

Kate turned towards Osgood: "I give up! Can you make him understand? And I need to know exactly where these women have been spotted, and everything about them."

"Understood, Ma'am."

A few hours later, they were all looking at a map of the locations of the Aura women. There seemed to be no particular logic to their geographical repartition. A hundred or so of them were in England, about the same in France, Germany and Italy, and others were in the other European countries.

"At least we're talking about hundreds, and not thousands, as the General said, Ma'am." Osgood was trying to lift Kate's mood, which had been definitely black since the General's phone call.

"Oh, so we're looking at hundreds of potential killers, and that's supposed to be a good thing? Thanks, Osgood."

"Sorry, Ma'am."

"Time to act – Osgood, Josh, you're coming with me- we're going to pay some calls."

Soon they were zooming around the countryside, on their way to the nearest sightings. Josh drove and Kate gave her instructions. She would go and call on the women with Osgood, posing as a journalist and her photographer. Josh would stay in the car, not so much as back-up as in order not to waste to much time. She hoped to get a feel of the situation and information.

They covered hundreds of miles in the night, going as far as possible, so as to make their way down to London in the next day. At the end of the next day, they'd visited sixteen of the women – some of them had not been at home, but those who had had been very willing, eager, even, to talk to Kate. They all had a similar story to tell. Nearly all of them had been synesthetic all their lives, but recently they'd begun to see auras around people too. They all said they could tell the nature of the individuals by the colours. When Kate asked how they knew, they answered that "She" had told them. None of the women would, or could explain who that She was, or how She had told them, although they gladly gave examples. They explained that if someone was sick, they would usually see them as green; or someone with bad manners as yellow. No one mentioned brown. At the end of the interview, Kate asked them what colour they saw her in. Some of them demurred, and others answered, that they saw her as red. When Kate probed a little further, they admitted that red was the colour they usually attributed to sexually attractive people… The first two times she heard that, Kate blushed – after that, she gave herself a stern talking to, and told herself she was interrogating potential suspects, not meeting a first potential date.


	2. Chapter 2

When they got back to headquarters, all three of them were exhausted and grumpy, mostly because Kate had insisted on not stopping for lunch or dinner, and they'd had to make do with sandwiches and biscuits. None of them would sleep in their own bed that night either, although Kate insisted Josh and Osgood had a few hours of rest in one the underground rooms equipped for that purpose. She herself downed a huge mug of black coffee and went back to work – now they had a clue, but they still had to find out who the mysterious "She" was, and what her purpose was.

She was woken up by the sound of the red phone ringing. As she extended her arm to answer, she massaged her neck and tried to straighten her back without groaning – despite the coffee, she must have dozed off.

"Kate, any news on the Aura women?

\- Good morning to you too, General …We have made progress on the subject, yes.

\- Good – so there will be no more murders, right ? You're on top of it?"

Kate bit her lip – she was well aware that when UNIT chiefs wanted something done, they wanted it done for the day before, but her brain was still a little hazy with sleep, and she hadn't her usual sense of repartee. So she tried the obedient and respectful approach:

"Not quite, Sir – we do have a good lead, though, and we've been working 24/24 on that issue. It should be resolved in a matter of days, hopefully without any more casualties.

\- Right – We're counting on you, Kate – can't let a bunch of crazy women run riot and kill people! Just get them back to their kitchens and their gardens, where they belong."

That last sentence caused Kate to hang up rather abruptly without saying goodbye. She was fuming – how dare he! The General's remarks reminded her of something her father had told her many times – a woman in science would have to be at least three times as good as a man to get the same recognition. But if she messed up, she would be sanctioned three times as hard – he'd called that the glass cliff. In her current position, she was in a bloody glass cage! She turned towards Osgood, who was watching her apprehensively : "May I ask why you didn't wake me? There's really no time to waste!"

"Hem …we didn't dare, Ma'am."

Kate shot her a withering glance: "Let's get back to work, people – you heard the General." A few hours later, they weren't any closer to discovering the identity of the mysterious "She", but a report from Colonel Shindi, who'd been sent to interrogate some of the women on mainland Europe gave them some hope. It seemed the mysterious She had been seen in person by some of the women. Apparently she had a human appearance, although none of the women was able to describe her precisely.

"So She's like …an apparition? You're telling me these people are like Therese of Lisieux or Joan of Arc? Are you sure She is not the Virgin Mary, Colonel?" said Kate sarcastically.

"I don't think so, Ma'am. None of them seem the least religious – and anyways … Would the Virgin Mary go on telling people to kill the baddies?"

\- I'm sorry, Colonel – that was uncalled for. Do we have any idea how to contact this She? I'd like a little tête-a-tête with her.

\- I didn't manage to find that out yet, Ma'am – but I still have a few more visits to pay.

\- I'll let you get on with it, then – good luck, Colonel.

\- Thank you, Ma'am – good luck to you too."

Kate decided to send Josh and a few other members of her team to "interview" the women they'd not been able to see the day before, and after downing another huge mug of coffee and a chocolate bar, she sat down again in front of her screen. If the women couldn't tell them how to summon their spiritual guide, UNIT would have to find that out by itself. And sooner rather than later.

A day later, filled with too much coffee and chocolate and not enough progress, Kate was beginning to look harried. Her eyes were underlined by deep dark shadows and she'd run her hands through her hair so many times that it looked like a bird's nest. The team had now visited every woman reported, and absolutely none of them had come up with any useful information. The only new clue they had was that She usually appeared near a stretch of water.

When Geneva phoned again, Kate groaned before she answered – she knew it was not going to be a pleasant conversation. Moreover, this time, the General appeared on the huge screen, and the whole room was able to hear him as he bawled her out. There had been two other murders, and he was livid. She couldn't do anything but apologize, something she hated, especially when she had to do it in public - the whole team at the Tower had heard the conversation. The General's parting shot had reached its target, too…Yes, the Brig would have been much more efficient – he wouldn't have had any trouble finding an apparently very beautiful woman.

Kate and Osgood exchanged glances – they both knew what they had to do…


	3. Chapter 3

Less than an hour later, they emerged in the early March sunshine and sat down on a bench to wait. A young slim blonde woman wearing blue trousers emerging from a large grey-blue coat strolled casually towards them. In Kate's pocket, her hand-held scanner vibrated and she got up to meet the newcomer: "Doctor – thank you for coming"

"Pleasure – what can I do for you, Kate?"

The three women shook hands and sat back down while Kate explained the situation. The Doctor retreated into herself for a moment and then exclaimed: "Heavens! She's at it again – slight change of target, apparently, but…"

Kate looked at the Doctor hopefully: "You know who She is, then?"

"Yes …I met her …some time ago – won't tell you when, it makes me feel old. But I should be able to get in touch with Her for you – Viviane and I got on pretty well then."

Osgood interrupted: "Viviane? You mean, like in "Merlin and Viviane"? That Viviane?"

Kate sighed: "So now they want us to hunt down fairies! As if aliens weren't enough."

The Doctor went on: "Yes, Viviane – the Lady of the Lake – she used auras before, you know, with Merlin and that crowd. I didn't think she was into killing people, though!"

"Can you take us to her?"

The Doctor frowned: "There may be a slight problem with that – I seem to have misplaced my Tardis…" Then she brightened up: "Doesn't matter – I'm going to summon Her instead; I just need water – now, where can I find water?"

Kate gestured towards the Thames behind them.

"Oh no, dear – not that kind of water – I need something quieter – like, a lake, or … I know, come on!"

And she ran towards the kerb to hail a cab. Kate and Osgood followed her, Osgood murmuring "I like her – a bit different, but she seems to have her head screwed on…" Kate nodded and added: "I hope you've got cash on you, because I don't, and I don't think the cabbie is going to be very happy if we tell him we can't pay him because we left in a hurry to meet a fairy."

"Don't worry, Ma'am – I always have £20 on me in case …well, in case – and if this isn't enough, we can always wipe out his memory."

The cab took them to Regent's Park and the Doctor guided them to a secluded area where a small pond nestled in a grove of willows. Osgood nudged Kate and whispered: "Don't you think we should check in with Josh and the Colonel? Maybe we should have brought back-up." Kate laughed: "I'm not afraid of fairies – besides, I've got my gun, just in case."

The Doctor had sat down on the grass and she beckoned to them: "I've summoned her – she's coming." A few minutes later, Kate's eyes were drawn to the middle of the pond. A beautiful woman was emerging from the water – or at least, she was probably beautiful – it was hard to know really, because Kate's first impression of her was a myriad of colours and deep blue eyes. She hardly heard the Doctor's parting words: "Hello, Viviane – long time no see. I'll leave you to it then – be safe, Kate, and I'll see you soon." As she left, she motioned to Osgood to leave Kate alone. Osgood, who saw only Kate standing near the pond, nevertheless took the hint, murmured: "I won't be far, Ma'am", and walked away.

Kate and Viviane were left facing each other. Now that Viviane was out of the water, Kate saw her more clearly – she had before her a slim woman with dark hair running down her back ,milky-pale skin, and piercing blue eyes – who appeared to be surrounded by a red mist. Viviane spoke first: "My friend tells me you are in need of my help – how can I assist you in your quest?"

Kate shook her head, trying to dispel the red glow around her interlocutor, and answered rather brusquely, as she always did when she was nervous: "You can begin by telling me why you've enchanted all those women, and why you've told them to kill people."

Viviane looked at her appealingly: "Please, Kate – do not assume the worst of me. I never wanted to hurt anyone. I may have, in the past but …Please let me explain."

Kate nodded and Viviane went on: "Matters of the heart are complicated and often deception and heartache occur… My intention was never to kill, but to help those women, get them to see the true nature of people so that they would stop wandering in gloom and find the Right One. My spell transformed their emotions, their inner feelings into colours, and that was supposed to help their hearts lead. But somehow, in some of them, my spell went horribly wrong, and they took it upon themselves to slay the darkest human felons."

Kate was listened attentively, or at least trying to, because the red glow around Viviane had not dispelled, and it was most disturbing: "So you manipulated their brain signals, but you got the programming wrong…"

"I am not sure what you mean – I cast a spell, but unfortunately magic is not perfect alchemy and one cannot foretell the consequences." Viviane took a step towards Kate and looked straight into her eyes. Kate felt suddenly very warm, as if Viviane's body irradiated heat – warm and a strange tingly sensation invaded her… When Viviane leant towards her and stroked her face, she stiffened and took a step back, but an irresistible pull drew her to Viviane again. And when Viviane's lips brushed hers, she did not resist anymore, and lost herself in the kiss.

Afterwards, Kate had no idea how long they had stayed together, entwined, at one with one another. She only knew that she had never felt so whole, so intense, so fulfilled. And when Viviane broke the embrace, Kate was engulfed by a sense of loneliness and loss she had never experienced so deeply either. Then Viviane spoke again: "You too have experienced heartache, Kate – but I see now that I have been wrong. The humans need to make their own mistakes to learn. Not all who wander are lost. I regret that I cannot give their lives back to those who have perished by my fault, but I will undo the spell. I wish you well, Kate – may you find your own path in love. Godspeed!"

As she watched Vivian's image getting dimmer and dimmer in the red glow, Kate murmured: "Thank you, Viviane – will I …will I see you again?" Silence answered. She remained a few minutes staring at the pond, motionless, before she shook herself and walked towards Osgood.

Osgood took one look at her boss and wished she had not left her alone. Kate was ashen, and her eyes burned strangely: "Are you all right, Ma'am? Do you need to sit down?"

"I'm fine, Osgood. We can go now – no need for us to catch a chill. And I need to phone the General. Let's catch a cab back."

"Yes, Ma'am." The sooner her boss was back at the Tower, the better, as far as Osgood was concerned – she'd never seen her look so flustered, almost feverish. It was a silent drive back, and only when they were safely inside the Tower did Osgood dare to inquire about what had happened at the pond.

Kate looked at her unseeingly for a minute, and then answered in a business-like tone: "I know fairy tales are not part of your everyday literary diet, Osgood, but you do know that what begins with "once upon a time" usually ends by "they lived happily ever after." I believe this will be the case…"


End file.
